Tern, a joint program between DARPA and the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR), seeks to greatly increase the effectiveness of forward-deployed small-deck ships such as destroyers and frigates by enabling them to serve as mobile launch and recovery sites for specially designed unmanned air systems (UASs). Continue reading
Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience
Flirtey Launches Pizza-By-Drone Commercial Trials in New Zealand
Flirtey and Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd (Domino’s) began autonomous delivery of pizzas from Domino’s stores to select customer homes on November 15 The deliveries were conducted in New Zealand as part of Flirtey and Domino’s Pizza Enterprises ongoing drone delivery testing. Continue reading
First Flight of Avenger Extended Range
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. has announced the successful first flight of its new Avenger Extended Range (ER) aircraft, an extended range version of its multi-mission jet-powered Predator C Avenger which has accumulated over 13,000 flight hours to date. The flight occurred on October 27th at the company’s Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif. Continue reading
Russian Military Tests VR Helmet for Drone Pilots
Russian drone pilots may soon get a revolutionary virtual reality helmet to pilot unmanned aircraft and get an HD view of terrain and enemy targets. The new feature allows for better situation awareness while flying combat missions, developers say. Continue reading
Battle Lab Tests Unmanned Aircraft
The Maneuver Battle Lab hosted the Technical Cooperation Program for a week of testing unmanned aircraft systems at the McKenna Urban Operations Complex Oct. 17-21.
Gliding Algorithm Keeps Drones Aloft for Hours
Launch an unmanned SBXC sailplane into the air with a catapult and it glides lazily down again in about three minutes. But when the sailplane is equipped with software to find plumes of warm air rising from the ground, known as thermals, it can ride them upward and extend its flight to a record-breaking five hours. Continue reading
Prototype Miniaturized Radar for sUAS
While manned aircraft have used onboard radar for decades, the size and cost of the equipment has limited its use primarily to large, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Continue reading
Facebook to Test Wireless Technology on Low-Flying Drones Above its Headquarters
The skies above Facebook’s Silicon Valley headquarters may soon be buzzing with the sound of quadcopter drones. That’s because the company plans to fly at least one small, wireless-beaming drone at an altitude of 400 feet around its headquarters in the coming months. Continue reading